Inquiry QUESTION from Bumpas November 14, 2000 Not being a christian,i am curious. Is the bible, the thrue word of God,or is the bible, a book of parables and mytholigy,written by men for men?
If Jesus spoke in parables, thrue out his ministry,and a parable is nothing more than a short story that was not intendid to be taken literaly,what does this do to the credebility of the bible?
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on March 2, 2001 Dear Mr. Bumpas:
Yes the Bible is the true word of God. It was written by men THROUGH the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Thus what the Bible tells us, that is its religious message, is from God and is infallible.
Why would a parable cause problems to the credibility of the Bible? That makes no sense. A parable is a story that teaches a moral or a point. It is the point that is important, not the details of the parable itself.
The parable may be real events that Jesus uses to illustrate a point. We all do that. We tell a true story as an illustration of a point we are trying to make. Or a parable may include some true points and some fictional points. We all do that to. We may true to help a person understand a point we are trying to make by telling a story that contains some real events and some events we made up in order to make the story fit the point we are trying to illustrate. Or a parable can be a totally fictional story.
It doesn't matter.
What matters is the point being taught, not whether the story is real or not.
The paragble of Jesus teach us a realigious TRUTH. What is the Truth the parable is teaching is the question to ask; it doesn't matter whether the story was a real event or not.
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